IS CAMP RETIRING? – Dingell keeps it in the family – Is IOWA in play? -- College union fight hitting Capitol Hill

IS DAVE CAMP RETIRING? Only here, in POLITICO, by yours truly. “Michigan Rep. Dave Camp has not yet committed to senior House Republican leaders that he’s running for re-election in November, according to multiple sources.

The Ways and Means Committee chairman has not yet filed for re-election, and Michigan’s deadline is just weeks away.

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Camp, who was elected alongside Speaker John Boehner in 1990, has reached the term limit as chair of the tax-writing panel, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is widely seen as the committee’s next chairman.

Several senior GOP aides say Camp and his staff have been coy about his future political plans.

Asked if he would run again, Sage Eastman, Camp’s longtime aide, said in an email, ‘The Chairman formally makes his election announcement close to the filing deadline. This year is no different and there is no announcement yet.’” http://politi.co/1kgsfmB

DEBBIE DINGELL IS HELPED BY JOHN’S WORLD by Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan in POLITICO. “Rep. John Dingell - the longest serving lawmaker in congressional history - vows his wife is going to run her own campaign to take the Michigan seat he’s leaving open when he retires this year. ‘She will make her own decisions,’ Dingell said of his wife… But while the iconic Democrat might be putting himself on the sidelines for now, the political machine he and his wife built over the last three decades is already kicking into gear for her.

Debbie Dingell, a long-time Beltway power broker in her own right, has tapped into the vast network of former aides to her husband to begin filling up her campaign war chest and got some face time and endorsement from her husband at a recent Wolverine State delegation meeting.

A trio of former senior Dingell aides hosted a fundraiser Friday morning to raise money for his wife, just in time for the March 31 Federal Election Commission first quarter report deadline.

Veteran lobbyists John Orlando of CBS, Alan Roth of the U.S. Telecom Association and Tom Ryan of Ryan, McKinnon, Vasapoli and Berzok are co-hosting the lunch event at CBS’s Washington office, with a suggested contribution of $2,600 for hosts and $1,000 for guests, according to a copy of the invitation.” http://politi.co/1lxBvqB

IN SENATE BATTLE, IS IOWA IN PLAY? by Ben Kesling and Beth Reinhard in the Wall Street Journal, with a Osceola, Iowa, dateline. “Until last week, Democrats surveying an increasingly challenging bid to retain control of the Senate took some comfort in Iowa, a state won twice by President Barack Obama.

That was before U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic candidate in Iowa's first wide-open Senate race in 30 years, was caught appearing to scoff at—of all things—farmers.

Mr. Braley's gaffe may dissipate, as Democrats predict, but for now, it has injected a greater sense of competition into a race that the party had hoped to simply bank in the win column. Republicans said party activists are bumping the state up on their priority lists, and the party faithful are reveling in the attention. A weekend pie auction here for Clark County Republicans "doubled and possibly even tripled" its usual fundraising total, in part because of excitement over the Senate contest, said Scott McLin, a former county party chairman who helped organize the event. He coughed up $50 for a homemade cherry-cheesecake pie.” http://on.wsj.com/1lxBuTu

Good Monday morning, March 31, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle,your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Thanks for letting us pinch hit this morning. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints to jsherman@politico.com. Follow me and Bresnahan on Twitter at @jakesherman and @brespolitico.

**Over the past 25 years, we've invested more than $34 million to fight breast cancer in the National Capital Region, funding lifesaving screenings, treatment and support services. Help us do more by joining the Global Race for the Cure TM on May 10, 2014.**

NATIONALS IN NEW YORK The Washington Nationals open the season today against the Mets in New York. I’m rooting for the Nationals, but Bres is rooting for anyone but the Mets.

TODAY IN CONGRESS The Senate comes in today, but the House is out.

AROUND THE HILL Nothing. Nancy Pelosi is in New York and will talk immingration at SEIU Local 32BJ on West 18th Street at 4 p.m.

LATINO VOTERS MIGHT NOT SHOW UP In NYT, by Jackie Calmes, in Aurora, Colo. “Across the country, immigrant-rights advocates report mounting disillusionment with both parties among Latinos, enough to threaten recent gains in voting participation that have reshaped politics to Democrats’ advantage nationally, and in states like Colorado with significant Latino populations. High hopes — kindled by President Obama’s elections and stoked in June by Senate passage of the most significant overhaul of immigration law in a generation, with a path to citizenship for about 11 million people here unlawfully — have been all but dashed. Latinos mainly blame Republicans, who control the House and have buried the Senate bill, but they also have soured on Mr. Obama. The federal government has so aggressively enforced existing immigration laws that one national Hispanic leader recently nicknamed the president ‘deporter in chief’ for allowing nearly two million people to be deported.” http://nyti.ms/1hSRKHR

FIGHT OVER PAYING COLLEGE ATHLETES TO HIT THE HILL By Tom Farrey on ESPN.com. “The leaders who are attempting to unionize Northwestern football players will take their case to Capitol Hill lawmakers, aiming to protect the historic victory union organizers achieved last week. Ramogi Huma, president of the College Athletes Players Association, told "Outside the Lines" that he and Kain Colter, the former Northwestern quarterback, will be in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and Thursday for informational briefings with an undisclosed set of legislators. ‘We want them to understand why we're doing what we're doing,’ Huma said. ‘Obviously, Congress has the power to affect conditions for college athletes as well, and we want to correct some of the false statements that have been made about what we're trying to do.’

OREGON’S FAILED EXCHANGE by Jen Haberkorn in Salem, Ore. “Oregon had all the right ingredients for a sparkling Obamacare success story: a Democratic doctor as governor, an eager Legislature and a history of health care innovation. It ended up with Obamacare’s biggest technological disaster.” http://politi.co/1gGQVFM

FRIDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – No one correctly answered Friday’s question: Woodrow Wilson was the first president to appoint a woman to a so-called “subcabinet” position. He appointed Annette Abbott Adams as assistant attorney general in 1920.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Alex Clearfield has today’s question: Name three vice presidents (including those who represented Confederate states) who have a statue in National Statuary Hall? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email the answer to jsherman@politico.com.

**Join the State of Pink. Hill, local and US Government employees are encouraged to form teams for the 2014 Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure TM. Funds raised provide breast cancer screening and services to underserved women in the DC area. Contact stateofpink@komen.orgGlobalRacefortheCure.org **

** A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition: The Health Insurance Tax (HIT) drives up health care costs for small businesses, seniors, state Medicaid programs and middle-income Americans. The HIT is estimated to cost hardworking American families an additional $5,000 over a decade. And since the cost and consequences of the HIT increase over time, America’s small businesses and hardworking families are facing a bigger HIT every year. This translates to real jobs for businesses and real wages for families. That’s why the Stop The HIT Coalition – representing the nation’s small business owners and their employees – is working hard to repeal the HIT before it causes even more damage. Congress, please stop the HIT. Once and for all. http://bit.ly/1iE6tfW **

Authors:

About The Author

John Bresnahan is a senior congressional reporter for POLITICO. He comes to us after more than a decade covering Congress, most recently as a reporter and editor for Roll Call. He is one of the most well-sourced journalists on the characters, history and procedures of Congress.

About The Author

Jake Sherman is a senior writer for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Jake is the top congressional reporter on Capitol Hill and has built a career on landing hard-to-get scoops

Since 2009, Jake has chronicled all of the major legislative battles on Capitol Hill, and has also traveled the country to cover the battle for control of Congress.

Jake takes readers inside the rooms where decisions are made. His high-impact reporting resulted in the resignation of Aaron Schock.

Before landing at POLITICO, Jake worked in the Washington bureaus of The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He also interned on the metro desk of The Journal News (N.Y.) and, during high school, worked on the sports desk of the Stamford Advocate (Conn.).

Jake is a Connecticut native, and a graduate of The George Washington University — where he edited The GW Hatchet — and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Jake lives in Washington with his wife Irene, and listens to an unhealthy amount of Grateful Dead and Phish.